Ellie has an uncanny ability to understand and communicate with dogs, on a human-like basis. Because of this talent, a dog-walking business seems perfect to Ellie and she begins to recruit Manhattan's Upper East Side dog lovers to enlist her to walk their dogs. Picking up one of her favorite dogs, Buddy, one day, Ellie stumbles over the body of his owner Professor Albright and Buddy is nowhere to be found.

Detective Sam Ryder doesn't seem to be particularly interested in a missing dog, but he is very interested in Ellie as a suspect. She does get him to agree to allow her to search for Buddy, given the fact that she interacts with so many other dog owners, giving her, in her opinion, the perfect opportunity to search for a murderer.

Hounding the Pavement is the first book in a new series for dog and cat lovers alike. Ellie is a delightful character and her ability to know what dogs are thinking adds another layer of charming characters with her charges. Like several other businesses on the Upper East Side, dog walking is cut throat, but Ellie's number one concern is always for the animals.

Detective Sam seems unable to decide whether he wants to arrest Ellie or bed her, and there is still a very mysterious side to him. There is not a large number of suspects to choose from and the murderer and motive are both pretty obvious from early on, but Ellie's personality and ability to communicate with the dogs keep the plot from dragging too much.

An added incentive for animal lovers to purchase this series is that all of the royalties from this series is being donated to a no-kill animal shelter in Utah (see author's website for more details).

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry